William Shakespeare & the Globe

This was a wonderful introduction to Shakespeare. I felt like it gave them enough information without going too indepth. It talked a bit about Will himself, as well as some of his contemporaries. It discussed the playhouse and social system of the time. The book was written like a play, Act 1 Scene 2 and such and each page had a small quote from one of his plays. It also went on to describe Sam Wanamaker who started the project to rebuild the Globe in London. Our favorite part was at the end where it showed a list of words and phrases that Shakespeare 'invented' like puke and Knock, Knock, Who's There? It also has a timeline of his life and plays. For the third grade I thought this more than adequate coverage. We used this as a springboard to read some of his plays (written for children) and we're really enjoying those as well. I think this book would be appropriate for K through 6th or 7th grade. You could possibly use it for older as well, but by that age they should be going a little more indepth, like Bard of Avon by Diane Stanley and the cartoonish drawings might not be appealing to older kids. *taken from my review at goodreads

The presentation is clever. Aliki has organized her information into Acts, Scenes, and Asides, with Act Five being the work of Sam Wanamaker to recreate the Globe Theater. She has also laid out her prose text as if it were lines of poetry, furthering the playbook effect. I often checked the text to see if it was written in iambic pentameter (it isn't). The illustrations are lively and highly detailed. The pages are very busy. Here are the contents of a typical page, from top to bottom: four lines from As You Like It; a drawing of Christopher Marlowe; an information box about the Rose Playhouse and builder Philip Henslowe's diaries; seven lines of text about the Admiral's Men and Marlowe; a drawing of three actors on a stage, surrounded by groundlings; the titles of sixteen Shakespeare plays superimposed in wavy lines over the drawing of the actors; a caption beneath; and a line from The Merry Wives of Windsor. Aliki's efforts to squeeze as much as possible into this book sometimes become distracting. All of the illustrations have their own text boxes, with additional information provided in up to five sentences. Readers may have to keep backtracking in order to follow the narrative, and I sometimes wonder if texts like this are the best way to format nonfiction material.

Book Review: William Shakespeare & the Globe By: AlikiThis book has been honored with many awards for good reason. With pictures, a sprinkle of quotes from several of Shakespeare's own plays, and many historical references make this book is a very interesting layout of William Shakespeare's life and times. The book chronicles the theatre world in Shakespeare's time and his involvement in it all,and the building and rebuilding of the famous Globe theatre (even up to its rebirth in 1987!). The book shows the various phases of William's life in "Acts" just like his famous plays. The book even discusses the many words and phrases that he invented that we still use today. It ends with a look at Sam Wanamaker and Theo Crosby's vision of recreating The Globe and how they went about creating this wonderful restoration.A book that captures the reader's attention visually and with its easily read text. I am, as a teacher of 7th grade English, very impressed by this book, and can't wait to share it with my classes.

This book was the best Shakespeare book i've read. It had great facts and pictures for my Shakespeare roport. Now i read it for great enjoyment. It not only tells the story of Shakespeare but the story of Sam Wanamaker who had a dream to rebuild Shakespeare's Globe Theather. This was the best shakespeare book around, i bet you will enjoy it

Aliki's gift for clarity, humor and cleverness shine through this wonderful book. It is, like all Aliki's books, loaded with information, but manages not to overwhelm. You will find yourself coming back to this book again and again, examining the pictures and finding details you hadn't noticed before. A marvelous introduction to Shakespeare for mid- to older elementary children (and a visual delight for even younger readers!).